Lexicon

His skin was papery, his eyes unfocused. “Hey!” Wil said. “I found a better car.” He pulled open Eliot’s door. “Throw your arm around me.”
    “No.”
    “Yes.”
    “You. Go. I. Stay.”
    “No, that’s not what we’re doing. You’re coming with me. That’s the plan. We’re taking you to a hospital.”
    “Bad. Plan,” said Eliot. “Gets you. Killed.”
    “You have an alternative?”
    “North. Two miles. Dirt road. Then. Cross-country. Forty miles. To blacktop. Town. Kikaroo. Then. Any way. You want.”
    “Is there a hospital in Kikaroo? No. So we’re not doing that.”
    “Must.”
    “I tell you what. Look me in the eye, tell me you believe I can do this without you, and I’ll leave you here.”
    Eliot eyed him.
    “Unconvincing,” Wil said. “Put your goddamn arm around me.”
    “No.”
    “Get the fuck out of the car!”
    “No.”
    Wil leaned in to grab him. Eliot’s head pivoted to hit Wil in the nose: a small movement, but enough to knock him back, his vision flaring. “
Mother fuck!
” He turned in a circle. “You prick!” He lunged across Eliot and grabbed the towel. “I’ll fucking make you!” He began to unwrap it.
    “
No.
”
    The intensity of Eliot’s tone stopped him. “Then—”
    “Never.” For a moment, Wil thought Eliot was climbing out of the car. But he was only leaning. “Never. On me.”
    “Okay,” Wil said, intimidated. “Point made, fine.” But then Eliot slumped back in his seat, becoming less terrifying and more fragile, and he changed his mind. “You know what? I am going to use it.” He peeled the towel from the petrified wood. It caught on a sharp protruberance and ripped. A noise came out of Eliot, something halfway between a snarl and a moan, and his head turned away. Wil had to twist him back to face the bareword, then realized Eliot’s eyes were closed. “Goddammit.” He tried to thumb up his eyelids while keeping a grip on the word. “Open up!” He forced open one eye. The pupil dilated and the fight drained from Eliot’s body. “Okay, now,” Wil said. “Get out of the car.”
    Eliot’s hand shot out and gripped the door frame. Wil retreated a step. Eliot’s other hand came out and twitched around like a spider until it found purchase. His body began to shake.
    “Are you, uh, okay there?” Wil said.
    “
Harrrgh
,” said Eliot. His expression was very intense. He was trying to pull himself out of the car, Wil realized. Straining, but lacking the strength to do it. Wil moved forward to help and realized that Eliot’s entire body was vibrating, his muscles tight bundles of wire.
    “There,” Wil said. Eliot straightened. He threw out a foot in a jerky, searching motion. Wil released him. Eliot fell to the pavement. “Oh, shit! Sorry!” Eliot’s hands scrabbled at the concrete. “Jesus! Eliot! Let me help you.”
    “
Ghee.
”
    He wrapped his arms around Eliot’s torso. “Come on. This way.” After four steps, Eliot vomited. His eyes were wide and staring, the pupils milky. He looked dead. “Eliot, I’m sorry. But it’s just a little farther.” Eliot’s foot slid out and Wil maneuvered it to touch the ground. “That’s it.” Eliot made a noise like it might become a cough one day. “Please, Eliot.” Eliot was not going to make it. He was already dead, and Wil was making him walk to an SUV. “I’m so sorry. But I can’t let you die.”
    “
Haargh.
”
    “Don’t die! Do not die!” He was still holding the bareword and tried to wave it in Eliot’s face. Whether Eliot could even see anymore, Wil didn’t know. “
Don’t die.
”
    Eliot’s body convulsed. Flecks of spittle flew from his mouth.
    “Fuck!” he said. They were inching toward the paramedic van, and Wil wondered if there was a sedative in there, something in a syringe, which he could use to knock Eliot out. Then Eliot would stop being so much like a reanimated corpse. “Come with me!”
    He propped Eliot against the rear of the van and Eliot keeled over. Wil climbed inside anyway and began ransacking drawers. The sensation that he had been here before descended again, more strongly this time. He could feel memories scratching at the underside of his mind, just out of reach. But he didn’t have time for that. Eliot was lying in the dust and Wil had to get him to the SUV. He should use a fireman’s carry. Why had he been shuffling along, holding Eliot by the arm? That was stupid. You wanted to move someone, you put them over your